Nepantla familias : an anthology of Mexican American literature on families in between worlds

Title:

Author:

Troncoso, Sergio, 1961- editor.

ISBN:

9781623499631

Edition:

First edition.

Publication Information:

College Station : Texas A&M University Press, [2021]

Physical Description:

245 pages ; 24 cm.

Series:

Wittliff Collections literary series

Wittliff Collections literary series.

Contents:

Introduction / Sergio Troncoso -- Nonfiction: Here, there / David Dorado Romo -- Life as Crossing Borders / Sergio Troncoso -- Losing my Mother Tongue / Reyna Grande -- Día de Muertos / Stephanie Elizondo Griest -- Calle Martín de Zavala / Francisco Cantú -- The Wonder Woman T-Shirt / Rigoberto González -- In(toxic)ated Masculinity / Alex Espinoza -- Piacularis / Domingo Martinez -- All the Pretty Ponies / Oscar Cásares -- Nobody's Favorite / Lorraine M. López -- Elote Man / David Dominguez -- Paco / Stephanie Li -- The Hole in the House / Sheryl Luna -- Letter to the Student Who Asks Me How I Managed to Do It / José Antonio Rodríguez -- Poetry: The Last Time I Went to Church / José Antonio Rodríguez -- Duty / Sheryl Luna -- Self-Portrait in the Year of the Dog / Deborah Paredez -- Why You Never Get in a Fight in Elementary School / Octavio Quintanilla -- Jarcería Shop / Sandra Cisneros -- Garden of Gethsemane / Diana Marie Delgado -- You're tired of your life / Octavio Quintanilla -- The Soul / Diana Marie Delgado -- Fiction : Dutiful Daughter / Diana López -- Melancholy Baby / Severo Perez -- Mundo Means World / Octavio Solis -- Border as Womb Emptied of Night and Swallows / ire'ne lara silva -- Family Unit / Rubén Degollado -- The Surprise Trancazo / Helena María Viramontes -- Mujeres Matadas / Daniel Chacón -- The Astronaut / Matt Mendez -- About the Editor -- About the Contributors.

Abstract:

"Nepantla Familias brings together Mexican American narratives that explore and negotiate the many permutations of living in between different worlds: how the authors or their characters create or fail to create, a cohesive identity amid the contradictions in their lives. Nepantla or living in the inbetween space of the borderland is the focus of this anthology. The essays, poems, and short stories explore the in-between moments in Mexican American life: the family dynamics of living between traditional and contemporary worlds, between Spanish and English, between cultures with traditional and shifting identities. In times of change, family values are either adapted or discarded in the quest for self-discovery, part of the process of selecting and composing elements of a changing identity. Nepantla is the quintessential American experience that revives important foundational values through immigrants and the children of immigrants. Here readers will find a glimpse of contemporary Mexican American experience; here, also, readers will experience complexities of the geographic, linguistic, and cultural borders common to us all"-- Provided by publisher.

Subject Term:

Mexican Americans -- Ethnic identity.

Mexican Americans -- Cultural assimilation.

Mexican American families.

Mexican American families -- In literature.

Mexican Americans in literature.

Group identity in literature.

Geographic Term:

Mexican-American Border Region -- In literature.

Genre:

Essays.

Poetry.

Short stories.

Added Author:

Troncoso, Sergio, 1961-

Document ID:

SD_ILS:2402602

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Library	Collection	Collection	Call Number	Status
Searching... Betty Rodriguez Library (Fresno Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Non-fiction Area	973.04687 NEP	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Fresno Central Library (Fresno Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Non-fiction Area	973.04687 NEP	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

"A deeply meaningful collection that navigates important nuances of identity."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

2021 Texas Book Festival Featured Book

Nepantla Familias brings together Mexican American narratives that explore and negotiate the many permutations of living in between different worlds--how the authors or their characters create, or fail to create, a cohesive identity amid the contradictions in their lives. Nepantla --or living in the in-between space of the borderland--is the focus of this anthology. The essays, poems, and short stories explore the in-between moments in Mexican American life--the family dynamics of living between traditional and contemporary worlds, between Spanish and English, between cultures with traditional and shifting identities. In times of change, family values are either adapted or discarded in the quest for self-discovery, part of the process of selecting and composing elements of a changing identity.

Edited by award-winning writer and scholar Sergio Troncoso, this anthology includes works from familiar and acclaimed voices such as David Dorado Romo, Sandra Cisneros, Alex Espinoza, Reyna Grande, and Francisco Cantú, as well as from important new voices, such as Stephanie Li, David Dominguez, and ire'ne lara silva. These are writers who open and expose the in-between places: through or at borders; among the past, present, and future; from tradition to innovation; between languages; in gender; about the wounds of the past and the victories of the present; of life and death.

Nepantla Familias shows the quintessential American experience that revives important foundational values through immigrants and the children of immigrants. Here readers will find a glimpse of contemporary Mexican American experience; here, also, readers will experience complexities of the geographic, linguistic, and cultural borders common to us all.

Includes the work of

David Dorado Romo

Reyna Grande

Francisco Cantú

Rigoberto González

Alex Espinoza

Domingo Martinez

Oscar Cásares

Lorraine M. López

David Dominguez

Stephanie Li

Sheryl Luna

José Antonio Rodríguez

Deborah Paredez

Diana Marie Delgado

Diana López

Severo Perez

Octavio Solis

ire'ne lara silva

Rubén Degollado

Helena María Viramontes

Daniel Chacón

Matt Mendez

Author Notes

SERGIO TRONCOSO is the author of The Last Tortilla and Other Stories , A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son, and Crossing Borders: Personal Essays . He coedited Our Lost Border: Essays on Life amid the Narco-Violence , which won the Southwest Book Award from the Border Regional Library Association and the International Latino Book Award for Best Latino-focused Nonfiction Book. A Fulbright scholar, Troncoso is a resident faculty member of the Yale Writers' Workshop and president of the Texas Institute of Letters.

Reviews (1)

Kirkus Review

An anthology featuring Mexican American writers negotiating life in between cultures. In an anthology that feels long overdue, Troncoso gathers 30 Mexican American writers to relate their accounts of what it means to be an American or, more often, what it means to not feel fully American. The anthology, which is divided into fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, contains mostly never-before-published works woven together by the common thread of "nepantla," a Nahuatl word that means "mutual place" or the "in-between." Alex Espinoza discusses being rejected due to his queerness, viewing his experience through the lens of machismo and alcoholism, two powerful forces that he notes often exist in tandem. In a short story, feminist poet ire'ne lara silva explores the concept of "crossing over" in Mexican culture, both literally (to the U.S.) and in the afterlife, while Octavio Quintanilla's short poem conveys the fear of law enforcement that can often haunt immigrants long after they arrive in America as well as the constant threat of deportation. The liminal spaces in which these moving, sometimes heart-wrenching stories take place range from the geographical to the metaphysical. Often, the literal borders erected to keep out Mexican migrants become metaphors for a deeper struggle to find the meanings of us and them. Many of the writers express a frustration at being either "too Mexican" or "not Mexican enough." The rejection from both sides foments a desire to belong to something uniquely apart from either, giving birth to a diaspora that embraces the idea of existing in several worlds. "The either/or proposition that forces you to choose between your community and, say, your country has never been true," Troncoso writes in the introduction. "The very skills we learn to cross borders within ourselves help us to cross borders toward others outside our community." Other contributors include Sandra Cisneros, Reyna Grande, Francisco Cantú, and Stephanie Elizondo Griest. A deeply meaningful collection that navigates important nuances of identity. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Sergio Troncoso

Introduction	p. 1
Nonfiction
David Dorado Romo, "Here, There"	p. 7
Sergio Troncoso, "Life as Crossing Borders"	p. 16
Reyna Grande, "Losing my Mother Tongue"	p. 27
Stephanie Elizondo Griest, "Día de Muertos"	p. 38
Francisco Cantú, "Calle Martín de Zavala"	p. 49
Rigoberto González, "The Wonder Woman T-Shirt"	p. 52
Alex Espinoza, "In(toxic)ated Masculinity"	p. 60
Domingo Martinez, "Piacularis"	p. 70
Oscar Cásares, "All the Pretty Ponies"	p. 76
Lorraine M. López, "Nobody's Favorite"	p. 80
David Dominguez, "Elote Man"	p. 93
Stephanie Li, "Paco"	p. 104
Sheryl Luna, "The Hole in the House"	p. 112
José Antonio Rodríguez, "Letter to the Student Who Asks Me How I Managed to Do It"	p. 120
Poetry
José Antonio Rodríguez, "The Last Time I Went to Church"	p. 131
Sheryl Luna, "Duty"	p. 133
Deborah Paredez, "Self-Portrait in the Year of the Dog"	p. 134
Octavio Quintanilla, "Why You Never Get in a Fight Elementary School"	p. 135
Sandra Cisneros, "Jarceía Shop"	p. 136
Diana Marie Delgado, "Garden of Gethsemane"	p. 140
Octavio Quintanilla, "You're tired of your life,"	p. 141
Diana Marie Delgado, "The Soul"	p. 143
Fiction
Diana López, "Dutiful Daughter"	p. 147
Severo Perez, "Melancholy Baby"	p. 161
Octavio Solis, "Mundo Means World"	p. 170
Ire'ne lara silva, "Border as Womb Emptied of Night and Swallows"	p. 182
Ruéen Degollado, "Family Unit"	p. 195
Helena Maria Viramontes, "The Surprise Trancazo"	p. 208
Daniel Chacón, "Mujeres Matadas"	p. 216
Matt Mendez, "The Astronaut"	p. 231
About the Editor	p. 237
About the Contributors	p. 239

Available:*

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (1)

Kirkus Review

Table of Contents